Duplex tunnel kiln



P..A. MEEHAN.

DUPLEX TUNNEL KILN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 4, I920- RENEWED MAY 20. 1922.

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Patented Dec. 5,1922.

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PAUL A. MEEHAN, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIQ, ASSIGhTOPt T0 AIVIEEYCA'N DBESSLER TUNNEL KILNS, INC., 01? 'NL W YORK, Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YGRK.

DUPLEX. sonnet. nun.

Application filed March 4, 1920, Serial No. 883,269., Renewed May 20, 1922. Serial No. 562,538.

To all whom 2'11 may concern:

Be it known that 1, PAUL MEEHAN, citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Duplex Tunnel Kilns, of which the following is a specification.

The general object of my present invention is to provide an improved form of tunnel kiln of the duplex type.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to anddorming a part of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, how ever, and of the advantages possessed by it, reference should be had to the accompanying; drawings and descriptive matter, 111

which I have illustrated and described a pre fer-red embodiment of the invention.

[it the drawings Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan,

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional plan.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

v Fig. l is a transverse section taken similarly to Fig. 3, illustrating a modified construction.

In the drawings, referring first to the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A. represents an elongated kiln chamber provided with track rails B for a train of oods carrying cars E, inserted one car at a time at the end i of the kiln chamber and withdrawn from the kiln chamber at the opposite end A of the latter. The kiln chamber is also provided with a second set of track rails C for a train of goods carrying cars E, which enter the kiln chamber at the. end A and leave at the end A An intermediate portion of the kilnv is heated by means, which in the form shown, comprises a combustion chamher or mullie l) at one side of the kiln chamber, and a similar combustion chamber or muiiie DA at the opposite side of the kiln chamber. The kiln chamber is laterally enlarged at A to accommodate the combustion chambers, Each combustion chamber is pro vided at one end with a fuel gas inlet D and an inlet D for air-to support the combustion of the fuel gas, and is provided at the opposite end withan outlet D for products of combustion. The combustion chamber D rests upon a masonary bench or ledge A the upper surface of which is at the. 1mm] n the top of the refractory bodies of the cars E. The combustion chamber IS formed with ppen ended ventilating passages .55 in its walls,

whereby convection currents of the kiln atmosphere may flow upward through these passages and be thereby heated, returning to the level of the tops of car bodies through and over the goods on the cars E. In this respect, the kiln shown is like the ordinary Dressler tunnel kiln. Between the end A of thekiln and the portion of the kiln at which the combustion chambers are located, the

goods on the cars E, running on the track rails B, are gradually heated up by heatabst acted from the goods on the cars running on the track rails C and the last mentioned goods are correspondingly cooled. At the other end of the kiln, the goods running on the track rails B transmit heat to goods running on the track rails C, the last mentioned goods being thereby gradually heata continuous sealing flange, dipping into the sand contained in the continuous trough formed by the members l of the cars running on the track rails B. I thus obtain a seal which extends the full length of the kiln and which prevents any downfiow through the spaces between the two trains of cars E,

of the hot kiln atmosphere from the portion of the kiln chamber above the cars to the space containing the under portions of the cars and the tracks on which they run;

I have drawn a flange member G adjacent the bench A to dip into the trough formed by the members F carried by the cars on the track rails C, and a sand holding trough F, carried by the bench A, into which the flange members G of the cars running on the track rails B may dip. In gem oral, however, the provision of the flange member G and trough member l unnecessary, the downiiow between each of the benches A and A and the adjacent train of cars may be reduced by the flanges or houl rs and (ac-operating grooves 1 E e fail A, and A, on the car bodies and benches to an unobjectionable minimum. The project ing ribs E and grooves E at the adjacent side of the cars (3, also tend to minimize the downliow of the hot kiln atmosphere from above the our level, through the space between the cars along the center line of the kiln, but those skilled in the art will understand that lateral displacement of the cars E, on the rails, which may be expected to occur in practice, will occasionally result in gaps twice as wide between a car in one train, and a car in the other train and the adjacent bench A* or A, with equal allowances for clearance to prevent side swiping betweenthe cars of the two trains, and be tween the'cars of each train and the adjavia.

cent bench. H, represents cooling pipes for the tracks and under structures of the cars which will ordinarily be employed regardless of whether the flange member F and G are or are not used.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4, each car E is pipvided at each side with a down turned seal formin flange FA. The flange at at the side adyacent the kiln center of each car dips into a fixed sand holding trough member GA, mounted on the door of the kiln chamber between the track rails B and the track rails C. Each member of the benches A and A may be provided with asand holding trough member GA into which the adjacent seal-forming flanges FA extend. -While the arrangement shown in Fig. i differs from that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 in that the corresponding sand seal is not formed wholly by car carried parts; both constructions are alike in that the vertical low of the kiln atmosphere through the clearance space between the. cars of one train and the cars of the other train is prevented in part by shaping the sides of the cars to make the path of flow through this space a tortuous one, and in part by the positive action or a. sand seal Vl hile in. accordance with the provisions oi the statutes 1 have illustrated and described the best form of embodiment of my invention now known to me, it will be ap parent to those skilled in the art that changes memos may be made in the form of apparatus dis closed, Without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims and that in some cases certain ifeatures of my invention may be used to advan tage Without a corresponding use of other features.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is:

l. The combination in a duplex kiln comprising an elongated kiln chamber provided with two lines of tracks, of two oppositely moving trains of cars in the kiln for carry ing goods therethrough, one train running on each line of track and each car having a goods carrying platform with the plat-forum of the cars of one train separated from the platforms of the cars on the other track by a. narrow clearance space, means supplyihg heat to the portion of the kiln chamber aboh e said clearance space, trough parts carried by the cars of one train and flange parts Carrie by the cars of the other train dipping into said trough parts and cooperating therewith, to provide a seal against a circulation of the kiln atmosphere through said space.

2. The combination in a duplex kiln comprising an elongated kiln chamber provided withtwo lines of tracks, of two oppositely moving trains of cars in the lriln for carrying goods therethrough, one train running on each line of track and each car having a goods carrying platform, the platforms or"- the cars of one train being separated from the platforms of the cars on the other track by a narrow clearance space and the side edges of the cars being); shaped to create a. tortuous path for vertical flow through said clearance space, means supplying heat to the portion of the kiln chamber above said clear-- ance space, and parts carried by the corset each train which cooperate to provide a seal against a circulation of the kiln atmosphere through said space.

Signed at New Castle. in the county of Lawrence and ctatc of Penna, this day of February, A. D. 1920.

LAUL A. REEEHAY. 

